Check out this quote

Winthrop H. Smith Jr., a former Merrill executive whose father helped build the firm, said the acquisition would represent "a very sad moment for myself and my family and the thousands of families who worked for Merrill Lynch over our 94-year history, sad to see a firm that always prided itself on its independence absorbed" into another.

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It wasn't sad when the firm was mismanaged and levered bals to the wall though.